Kelli Lin
(formerly) |residence = New York, NY, USA |appearance = }} Kelli Lin, born Jiao Lin, is an antiquities thief and former Olympic gymnast. Character Background Born Jiao Lin, Kelli was an Olympic gymnast and won a silver medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. During the time in which she was training in the Czech Republic, she got pregnant and was terminated from the games, with reasons remaining classified to the public. With gymnastics being simply not enough to provide for her baby and with her running low on money, Kelli sold her silver medal at a pawn shop to get money for medical aid in giving birth. Following the birth of her daughter, Kai, Kelli began relying on theft to solve her financial needs and provide for her baby. Eventually after several thefts, Kelli was caught. She was approached by a ring of Czech extortionists who needed a thief on their team and saw potential in Kelli due to her gymnast agility and speed. Though Kelli declined at first, the gang kidnapped Kai and forced her to work for them until a debt was paid off. Since then, Kelli had been an international thief targeting various artifacts. She would wear a mask and have similarly dressed decoys distract the authorities while she robbed the artifacts. The decoys were later found murdered, causing these activities to fall under further investigation and into the hands of Interpol. Agent Alain Bouchard was in charge of the case and continued to follow her activities. After years, Kelli's newer operations were based in New York City, causing her to be identified by the Machine and making her a person of interest. In her latest mission, she crafted out a fake identity as an event planner under the name Kelli Lin. Reese, Finch and Shaw began investigating her case after receiving her number and learned that she was hosting a museum exhibition. Reese, Finch and Shaw attended the party and Shaw met Kelli simply to make conversation. Suddenly, the lights powered off and dry ice bombs went off, acting as smoke screens. A masked Kelli grabbed a painting and ran while in pursuit of Shaw, The two had a brief fight before Shaw unmasked the thief. Kelli still managed to escape, but now with the team on her trail. Kelli went to a bar and met with her employer, Cyril, a key member of the Czech extortion ring. Cyril informed her that in order to pay off her debt completely, she would need to complete one more operation. While Kelli was away, Shaw infiltrated her house and found plans for the heist. She and Finch learned that Kelli's next target was the Gutenberg Bible, an artifact that was being shipped out of town that night. Shaw arrived at the robbery's intended location and removed spike traps on the road that Kelli had placed. Kelli arrived with a gun aimed at Shaw, and the trucks carrying the Bible passed by. Kelli informed Cyril that she failed the operation, but Cyril ordered her to retrieve it and reminded her what she was playing for: he opened up a video chat with Kai on it. This led Shaw and the team to realize that Kelli needed to be helped. Kelli was apprehended by Shaw and taken to a safe house, where Finch greeted her. He informed her that he and his team were intending to help her, but Kelli explained her story to support the idea that she was too late to be helped. When asked about the murdered decoys, Kelli was unaware of this and was shocked to learn that she was being framed for the activities. She figured that Cyril had the decoys killed to cover his trail. Finch learned that the Bible was being placed in a building belonging to a company known as Symmetric Security. Kelli informed him that while the company was based in the UK, there was a headquarters in New York where the Bible was bound to be. She warned that the building was heavily guarded, and Finch decided that the Bible had to be stolen as Kai was in China and there was not enough time to get her back. The team formulated a plan to get the Bible from the Symmetric building after reviewing it's defenses. With help from Fusco, they prepared access to the area and got ready to perform the heist that night. Later that day, Kelli ran into Interpol agent Bouchard, who warned her that he would catch her if she ever tried anything new. That night, Reese dressed as a decoy thief and activated the alarms in the building, distracting the guards and allowing Kelli and Shaw to slip through the ventilation shaft. Using the fingerprints of a guard, Shaw was able to bypass an access panel and get into the room in which the Bible was stored. Finch had tampered with the thermostat earlier to disable the room's heat signature tracking feature. Kelli used her gymnastics skills to swing past overhead bars to avoid the floor-based proximity detector. She managed to land inside the walled-off portion of the room in which the Bible was kept. Though Bouchard and the guards realized their mistake with Reese, Kelli and Shaw were able to escape in time. The next day, Finch and Shaw took Bouchard with them to tap into Kelli's conversations with Cyril and allow Bouchard to know the truth. Kelli, meanwhile, entered the bar and gave Cyril the Bible, demanding that her daughter is returned. Though Cyril refused, when he opened up the video chat, Reese was seen beating down the criminals guarding Kai and rescuing her. Before Cyril could shoot Kelli, Shaw shot him in the leg. Both Kelli and Cyril were apprehended. In an NYPD interrogation room, Bouchard came in and boasted to Kelli of how he had become a hero in Interpol for catching her. He then said, that he "always thought it was a shame" - Kelli asked if he was referring to her life of crime, but Bouchard said he was talking about her life before that - "he always thought she deserved the gold", referring to how she was a silver medalist. He placed the key to the interrogation room on her table and left, leaving her stunned. Later that day, Kelli and Shaw were talking when a car pulled up. Kelli didn't notice and was wondering if she'd make it in the USA - Shaw simply responded how she could instead just be a mother. Kelli turned around and saw Kai come out of the car, and the two happily embraced. Category:Characters Category:Female Characters Category:Persons of Interest